Saturday, May 3, 2014

The Quixotic EC

Any election without its humour and
laughable moments is no fun. Lately, apart from the politicians it’s the Election Commission (EC) and its
multiple Commissioners and field level Commissioners that have been providing
some comic moments. They have this thing called Model Code of Conduct (MCC) which the politicians and other public
figures campaigning are supposed to follow. I believe Mohinder Amarnath would
have called these guys “a bunch of jokers” without a second thought; such is
their implementation of policies and codes. The first and foremost task of the
EC is to ensure all voters who wish to vote are able to vote without hindrance.
They have failed miserably in this task and someone needs to explain and
probably even be prosecuted for this serious lapse. It’s not even a question of
a few hundreds or thousands, this runs into millions according to news reports:

There is no denying that the task of
conducting elections in India is a huge one. It’s the biggest elections on the
planet that can face a lot of hurdles. That is understandable and we shall deal
with it later. But why should there be a problem with something as clerical as
voter rolls? Six Million in just one
state and there maybe others in other states too. That’s not a small number,
that’s almost like disenfranchising the
whole of Israel or Sweden or Switzerland. The EC apologised for this but
this is a crime that needs much more than a mere apology. This is the reason
people have stopped trusting even the EC. An earlier CEC, Naveen Chawla, was
reportedly talking to Congress party members from the toilet of his office. And
after all this the EC gets into idiotic issues of MCC.

First they ban Amit Shah for his “revenge”
speech. Then they ban Azam Khan for
his “Muslims saved Kargil” speech.
Both are idiotic cases and didn’t deserve any action. But like the media, the
EC too now indulges in “monkey balancing”.
Amit Shah’s ban has been reversed but not Azam Khan’s. I’m no fan of Khan but
if he wants to say Muslims saved Kargil, what is wrong in it? At best it’s a
lie or not the full truth. That should be combated by other politicians not by
the EC. Which political speech during an election does not have some sprinkling
of lies and distortions? This whole nonsense of “hate speech” is driven a lot by religious issues. There is nothing
hateful in what Khan or Shah said. Why are we so scared that Hindus and Muslims
are dumb who will fall prey to such speeches? Are the ECs
supposed to act as their Mother-in-law?

There is another moron (who invented the
DNA testing system) called Abu Azmi
who wants the DNA of those Muslims, who didn’t vote for his party, to
scientifically establish if they are Muslims or RSS members. For the record,
even RSS has a Muslim-wing. So far, terrorists wanted to hear some verses from
Quran or the name of Mohammad’s mother to establish one was a Muslim. Now we
have a new method? In case some have forgotten, this same EC covered all the elephants of Mayawati on
frivolous claims of other parties that it would influence voters. The EC spent
crores on it. Does the EC really believe voters are that dumb? There was even a
complaint by Congress in MP to hide lotus ponds. This has been getting sillier with time. Then there’s the
question of campaigning or flashing symbols on voting day. Which age does the
EC live in?

The EC recently filed FIRs against Narendra Modi for flashing the Lotus
badge while talking to media after voting in Gandhinagar on April 30. The
Congress and others complained about it and the EC held a special 3 hour
emergency meeting after which they decided to file the FIRs against Modi. This
is as stupid as it gets. There’s a 24X7 media beaming sound-bites from various
candidates on voting day. There was Nandan Nilekani commenting on BJP and why
Congress should win after he voted in Bangalore. In the pic below, others using
symbols after voting are doing so deliberately and not accidentally:

There was Meera Sanyal in Mumbai
condemning Milind Deora after she voted in Mumbai. There are many such cases
and the complaints can be endless. If that is not enough, on voting days at
some places there is campaigning on at other towns. The media airs those
campaigns. Does it not influence voters? Is the EC under the impression what
Modi may say in Bangalore may not have any impact on a voter in Bihar which may
have a voting-day? Or are the channels not airing the campaigns in voting
areas? What is the point of the whole farce of FIRs and silly actions wasting time
from an important exercise in the country? Because the media morons and
Congress screamed the EC filed an FIR against Giriraj Singh (Who said Modi-haters must go to Pakistan). The
arrest warrant against him has been quashed by the Jharkhand HC. What is so
painful about what Giriraj said? (There are already people who have said they
will leave the country if Modi becomes PM). It may offend some people but is
mere offence cause enough for the EC’s quixotic behaviour? In an interesting story, the state of Ohio in the US has banned negative campaigning and lies against candidates. Although this has been challenged in their SC under First Amendment rights, there is a similar need for dramatic change in our MCC. Operating the same MCC where prosecutable crimes aren't separated from petty issues drains the EC of valuable time, resources and focus.

If at all the EC and political parties
really want to stop this silly incidents all they have to do is have clear
guidelines for the media. In this day and age it is absurd not to recognise
that channels like NDTV, Timesnow, CNN-IBN, Aajtak and other groups are active
campaigners in elections. Each media channel supports and campaigns for a
party. The excessive promotion of Mrs Vadra
by Arnab Goswami and TimesNow has
reached levels of absolute moronery. Even the most stupid and childish things
she says and does are peddled as great political insight or skill. Silly Arnab
even had problems with someone calling her “Mrs Vadra” because the Vadra name
is now associated with land scams which are in the news again. Given all these
stupidities does the EC have time for crimes such as illegal voter cards?

The
EC has been quixotic in almost all elections. First off, holding a national election over 35-40 day period itself
is a very absurd practice. The gaps between voting days provide enough
opportunities for political parties to get exit polls from sources and even
corrupt media channels to tailor their campaigns in between voting days. It also
provides opportunities for other corrupt practices to be extended. The whole
exercise has to be modernised and completed within a week. It may be a tall
task and require a lot of resources. It’s better to make those resources
available and enable elections to finish inside a week. Considering elections
form one of the most important parts of a democracy, the new govt must make it
a top priority for electoral reforms. That would at least be a start to stop
the EC’s Quixotic ways.

76 comments
:

EC is a big joke today. Political parties have to spend so much money over six week election that with that money election can be done in one week. Also I think there is influence of Congress party on EC like on media.

Well articulated. I am beginning to believe that even Election Commissioners are becoming Congress cronies if not already. The Gandhi family has corrupted each and every state/federal institution in the country.

Though this post is not completely about crooks in the media...its very insightful and very well articulates the need for electoral reforms. Thanks for pointing this big flaw in our our so called "Dance of Democracy". I will do my bit by spreading this message to all my friends.

EC appears tho enjoy their omnipotence they have during the long election period! the more the merrier!!..The excuse given for such a long time frame is security, time taken for movement of troops from one place to another,logistics etc...It is not impossible to have the whole election process completed in a maximum period of one week .EC should tell the government of the day what resource is required to complete the process in a week and the government should provide it. This will save the nation from having government paralysis for such a long period, save the resources required for keeping the EVMs in tact for long periods (first voting done on 7th April and counting on May 16th..Don Quixote must be turning in his grave),apart from having that idiotic MCC not in force for such a long period!!..We are electing a government and not having an IPL with an inherrant format of abundant scope for match-fixing

I do not agree that election commission performance has deteriorated. It was always so. Especially in Indra days all the EC were chamchas. One man T.N. Sheshan changed all this. He made EC what it is today. In Sonia Raj chamcha culture has touched new heights. She has shown great ability in making wrost key appointments. President Pratibha, CVC Thomas and EC Chawla are a few examples.

The new government should make the election commission a five member body. All 5 members will be called CEC's The senior most CEC should be given the job of talking to media only. All decisions have to be approved by 4 members. Once the congress appointed EC's retire, the government can bring an amendment to make necessary changes. Government should bring out a law which should clearly enforce banning of political parties if religious heads give directions to vote for a political party. All abusers should be banned from political activities for life. Media houses favoring a political party should be losing their broadcasting license automatically.

Navin Chawal was calling from Tolet to Sonia during day time & now Sampath is calling from the Bedroom to Sonia during night time - thats the only difference we see. But if the outcome of this election under the Sonia Licker Sampath will that of the last election during Navin Chawal India will be worst than hell under Sonia rANDi's rule. God Save India from this RSVP model.

EC has one of the most absurd rule in the name of MCC that no person can carry cssh exceeding 50K(barring medical emergencies etc).Are these morons from Uranus like planet to have implemented it at all. The businesses dealing in high value goods are badly affected (I belongtothecategory).Rightfrom the time the elections were announced to may 16 is really a LONG time for implementing this thing.I hope NarendraBhai Modiji will look at the perspectives and amend.

As rightly pointed out in this article, EC should be concerned about allowing the electorate to vote. A mere sorry is not enough, a repoll is needed as the electorate will not get another chance before 5 years.

EC should also be concerned about the safety and security of the data it collects. For example electoral rolls of constituencies can be downloaded in full without any authentication. The demographics of an entire constituency can be derived from this. Further the personal data is associated with Voter ID number. This is a ripe tool for social engineering attacks. EC should focus on such issues and act immediately rather than monkey balancing on MCC.

There is a big hue and cry over "Privacy of individuals" being compromised and the need for "Snoopgate commission" which was articulated by Dushyant Dave yesterday in NDTV. It is ironic that such large scale privacy breaches are never discussed.

It is ironic that Congress went to EC complaining about Modi's Varanasi nomination procession held on an election day. If the MSM had unilaterally decided not to telecast it, this procession would not have reached wider audience. Why is action being not taken against MSM and why is Modi being blamed for this?

Precisely. But nobody ( including bjp ) wants to discuss that. The public discourse in this country is rotten. Mediocre entities with limited competence are masquerading as journalists and editors . yesterday I heard Prannoy Lal Roy ( or was it Prannoy James Roy ) celebrating our Election Commission. He has been the biggest beneficiary on account of favoritism shown by EC and DD in the eighties . and most of the present day editors and journalists are products of ndtv.I have not seen anywhere else such a bunch of headless chickens dominating the mainstream media and damaging the public discourse in this country.Arvind Kejriwal and Rahul Gandhi have made very provocative speeches including lies to vitiate the atmosphere . nothing happens .Sickening .In this case of Modi , they should have broadcasted after the polls or not braodcasted in the voting constituencies. But , I guess , common sense too has deserted India.Nobody seems to be concerned about rising temperatures , deteriorating environment , increasing population , increasing pollution et al.

I am eagerly waiting blog on DD's fiasco of editing Modi's interview, twist by TOI that Modi said Priyanka is like his daughter, Priyanka and Ahmed Miya's stupid reaction and slap to Tewary by Prasad Bharati CEO

The new Govt should give top priority for Electoral reforms. It was really bizarre to see these stupid actions by EC particularly in this election. Also, the voter registration should be scrutinized once again.

It was sheer stupidity on EC's behalf to have covered Elephants & even more stupid was the request to cover lotus ponds.

Statements by Giriraj & Azam were not needed but those do happen in every election. Let the opposition can attack and prove it a lie.

However it was really astonishing to see the way Farooq Abdulla's statement was not acted upon. Same happened with TMC leader Kalyan Banerjee's statements and some other TMC leaders' statements. These guys said far worse things than Azam, Amit Shah & Giriraj.

Yes. I agree. EC should use its limited resources on prosecutable crimes rather than on stupid silly remarks of political leaders.

Clear guidelines for media is the most important step especially in this age of Internet. The way media tries to influence public opinion during polling is very blatant. We can see reporters clearly instigating people in these chaupals & ground-zero reporting kind of shows.

Resubmitting after typo corrections. First a disclaimer. I don't belong to any party. I have voted for CONG, BJP, JD-S in past elections. So, I don't belong to any vote bank.!

Lot is said about deteriorating quality of electioneering. I would not want it any other way.I am sure not many want to go back to empty speeches without crucial scrutiny just filled with slogans which later turned out to be empty.

Garibi Hatao .. We will do itWe are not BJP ++ and hence by definition, we are secular. So vote for us.Want to eliminate poverty, we are the people . After all we have been doing that for 25+ yearsIndia Shining.. Don’t you see it ALL around.

Those times are gone, forever. Present and Future would be crucial & intense review of Leaders position, standings on various issues, past dealings, Life patterns, demonstrated skills, strengths and weaknesses, achievements, past mistakes. Possible interpretations of cliché words, Changes in personality to take on new roles if given a chance. etc

If that is referred as Deterioration..... I will gladly accept it and I am sure many will accept it as well. So, what forms violations will also change over time.

'The biggest joke of the EC is that if someone flashes their party symbol, it might influence the voters!!! Isn't the the whole election is about trying to influence the voters?? Then how come influencing the voters have become a crime for this EC?? This farace must stop.

So called code itself is a joke.innovative way of campaigning can't be stopped.Amit Shah, Modi,Azam Khan,Giriraj Kishor and host of candidates have a right to be innovative in their campaigns to influence the voters.Modi/BJP/NDA have their roles cut out post 16th May.One of the first task on hand is to question EC about those removal of voters' names that includes Dipak Parekh of HDFC and Amol Palekar, there are millions who have been voting for years have found their names deleted.Who did this? Heads must roll in EC.Second issue is about illegal migrants getting themselves registered as voters.EC should be asked to delete their names summarily.

Even before that, one who has a voter identity cards should be eligible to vote. The voter lists should be thrown out. IT is a useless exercise to make voter lists and leads to corruptionHave a way of providing secure voter identity cards, eliminate duplicates, prosecute those having multiple ones. you will have better elections.

Ravinar, the CEC is definitely biased towards congress. All are committing grave mistakes fearing NaMo. They all have lost their mental balance. On the top of it, EC has the audacity to give consent to appoint a judge to investigate snoopgate. They all fall flat on the day of results. The fun has already started with DD pinning IB ministry. Lets sit and enjoy the fun. Nobody repeat nobody repeat can stop NaMo's juggernaut. BJP on its own will get between 307 to 325 seats.

Perfectly put, Ravinar. The EC has been making mountains out of trivial issues that should not even have seen any newspaper inches. In taking action on these issues, it fools the people into believing that it is impartial and alert.

The biggest failing of EC, which is missing voter names...of even people like Deepak Parekh and Amol Palekar...let alone lakhs of ordinary citizens, gets hardly any coverage. In fact, had the SM not made a big noise about it, most would not have even known about this huge failing (dare I say scam?) of the EC.

Sometimes I feel there is a deliberate attempt made at dumbing down people. Media keep them busy with hugely blown up trivial things, so that people lose the ability to even discern what the really important things are.

Such a huge failing of the EC merits an investigative programme like Panorama. Of course since our media are bed-mates of the current rulers...literally and figuratively, nothing can be expected until the rulers change.

Yes, it seems like a deliberate attempt to keep Indians preoccupied with inanities - but I day that it is more fait accompli /consequence of certain intrinsic tendencies particular to India - laid back attitude , reservations that have destroyed merit , shortsightedness , momentarism, groupism, sychopancy as a tool to progress , lack of clarity as also priorities and many more. All these are widely prevalent amongst 95% of the populace whereas the 5% that is dominant and successful are hedonists, materialists , selfish , scheming , manipulative.

Ravinar, With all due respect, I think you got yourself wrong with Azam Khan episode. The EC is atleast right in this case since Azam khan was found to be a "serial offender" of Model code of Conduct and thats probably the reason for the ban not merely of one outrageous statement. He had been saying unsavory things right from the start where he firstly tried to polarize elections, next he called modi brother of puppy, about kargil martyrs (by the way he did not only said muslims won the kargil but was also pointing out that "Hindu" actually did not win kargil, dragging Military was perhaps first of its kind by any sickular leader in any election and that I see as unprecedented) etc.he was bound to get banned, but here is the twist, Azam deliberately overstepped so as to get sympathy among the muslims for SP. You see when victimization runs deep among Muslims perpetrated deliberately by our Sickulars, fighting against any evil institution (all including EC) will be great marketing among their vote banks. This is the primary reason why Lalu, some exit polls say, had done well due to sympathy factor after his conviction. At the end of the day, the spirit of constitution lives (even with faulty EC guidelines) so those who repeatedly offer disrespect to MCC (even faulty one) must be pulled up.

With all the Negative press that got with Amit shah, it was his first and perhaps the last slip where he asked people to avenge the bad Government "with voting". Yes EC did the monkey balancing, but corrected it after revoking the ban.As with its decision to file FIR against Modi, it looked downright ridiculous as you yourself pointed out in the article.

Finally your point on long drawn out elections is also an important fact as most elections in democratic countries are completed in a day. Even countries with hard geography like brazil and indonesia are completed in a day. This practice of EC must end.

As for the missing votes, BJP must order an investigation immediately should they come to power. EC's hands are tied to an extent since the lower bureaucracy is entirely of state Govt's and almost always does bidding for them. Modi must throw open more freedoms with respect to electoral rolls and give them to EC.

To just add to my post, EC's stance looks compromised when it okays inquiry into the snooopgate controversy against modi but does not allow Army chief to be appointed. Isn't that strange. Either it must allow both or obstruct both, whats the point of letting incumbent order the inquiry at this late hour if not for political reasons where any traction of Congress's allegations of Modi will be a victory for the worst Govt India has ever seen.

You are plainly wrong. Why should Azam Khan be banned because he is a serial offender? And constitutes a "serial offender"? What he says may offend you and me... but let it offend. The more we pander to people who get offended the more important the stupid Khans become. It may not be an exact match in terms of analogy... but the more liquor or porn is prohibited.. the more the crimes that connected to it. If a person keeps on uttering nonsense... at some point people will just ignore and move on. Banning him helps play victim and get sympathy and works in the opposite way. And if there are crimes that he has committed let the normal law be applied (like in the threat case of Imran Masood) why should some stupid MCC and its interpretation be the basis to punish him? I think Azam Khan is a moron and a filthy character but I would certainly not consider banning him.

What does EC do between elections? It does not update electoral and verify them. The pity is that are not even accountable. Arnab should focus his energy on this rather than discuss mrs Vadra who is not even a candidate.

The article forgot to mention Shrarad Pawar who suggested a method to his voters to do double voting. This was a very serious criminal suggestion. But the EC looked at this very leniently. Where as Amit Shah had said use the ballot box to take badla. and EC pounced on him with all its might. Very shameful.

EC is no more Election commission .it means Elect Congress. These morons concealed so many elephant statues in UP at great cost.. I was afraid at that time the stupid people may actually kill the living elephants in forests and temples. Luckily it did not happen. And somebody from conmen gang wanted to cover the lotus flowers in all the ponds and water bodies. Then I wondered what with Sun, the symbol of DMK. With these disturbing thoughts i went to sleep. Then during sleep I had a dream that some morons will suggest that the hands of all the citizens should be severed on the polling day as it is Congis symbol. Startled I woke up with a trembling shock. Coming to senses , I realized that I was in India and have to live with such nightmares as long as we are ruled by Italians.

Thanks Ravinar for another top post. I too think that the new Modi Govt. should put emphasis on electoral reforms. All these long drawn-out phases, deleted voters, malfunctioning EVMs, brazen rigging makes one wonder whether EC is really performing its duty.

I had discussions with some party leaders of BJP as well as SS. They had a different view to the deletion of names from voters list, and didn't seem to think it was due to a bias. Incompetence, yes. In their view, due process was followed prior to deletion of names, which isn't as simple a task as people think. Apparently a survey was conducted to identify which voters have moved on or expired, and an ASD list was created. The entire list of voters being deleted was published in the Free Press Journal as it was the cheapest and fit in the budget, ignoring the fact that it has a very poor circulation. Similarly even the regional papers in which the list was published were the cheapest ones. A period of several months was provided after the advertisement to invite objections, and only after that deletions were done. Since due process has been followed, no matter how incompetently, there is very little that can be done. It is for the political parties and the voters to ensure that the list is in order. Earlier, parties used to do this exercise to ensure all their voters are on the list. When such massive deletions were being done, they should have been more aggressive in checking whether their regular voters were affected too. People too were not vigilant enough and didn't keep a watch on the EC's activities till the last month before elections and then expected that their names would suddenly appear and they would get to vote. Being a government body, we shouldn't expect that the EC will work in an efficient or competent way, that's just not how most government departments work. This is a valuable lesson for people and hopefully they will learn well.

Bjp and SS party leaders spoke and you accepted ??? They were caught napping and so they are trying to downplay their folly. The moot point is on what basis did EC remove voters from entire buildings and localities ?? On what basis they decided that these voters have changed address or no more alive ?? And that too in lacs even as they displayed amazing alacrity in issuing voter cards to many illegal migrants ???No wonder India is what it is today.

yes, you are right. deletion from electoral role is doesn't seem to be an easy task. I looked up my maid's name in the electoral role and was able to find it. This inspite of the fact that she was missed in the 2011 census and hence could not apply for NPR at the camp.She has lost her voter id card and was unable to vote in some past elections but this time with the EC voter slip she was able to vote.

Mr.Amit Thadhani, this is how the inefficient people with mall-fide intentions have been messing up the country. I can understand few names here and there getting deleted because of the shift / death ..etc. How in lakhs in clusters can be deleted? under what logic?..and people like you accepting such lame explanations and sympathising with such rogues who act in connivance with the corrupt political parties. No wonder India is what it is today...

One reason could be that this group of people may not all 6 L but most may have not voted in any of the elections is last 5 years including 2009 General Election, State Assembly and Municipal Election if one fails to exercise his or her franchisee then there name is bound to get deleted from voters list even though they possess Voters ID.

EC never tried to increase voting % at any point of time all they did was update voters list, issue ID and deploy troops on eve of election day. They failed to bring people to vote booths.

EC must adopt new technology for making people vote even though there presence is in other state on election day.

I know people who have voted in several election before this one...including the last municipal and assembly elections. Yet their names were missing. The EC did not even say that it had followed this process and this is the first time I have heard about the Free Press Journal list. Besides in case of Amol Palekar, he got to know a month or two earlier and yet they did not remedy the situation. So the story sounds cooked.

Forget about incompetence, now that the issue has come to light, it should be addressed. There is sufficient time even now to conduct a repoll. The person elected has tremendous responsibility. What if the elected person did not have the mandate, but was tasked with an important job and he takes decisions detrimental to country's interests.

These are serious matters and affects the very foundation of democracy. Iam astonished that political parties like BJP/SS do not seem to appreciate this and is resorting to typical blame it on procedure. If an opportunity to correct a mistake is there it should be utilized. The faulty procedures, incompetence should be addressed next time. It is like saying that if a product has a bug, donot fix it but release a new version after three months.

So Azam Khan and Amit Shah "violate" MC when they make "communal" speeches but Sharad Pawar and his nephew do not fall foul of MC when they blatantly announce their "strategies" to circumvent free and fair elections.

Besides, EC seems to have been in a deadly hurry to slap a notice on Modi based on Congi's charges without bothering to conduct even a basic inquiry of whether or not he was outside the prescribed radius of a polling station. Clearly, Modi is being singled out here and EC owes an explanation to the nation.

The voters across the country are being bombarded with 24X7 party propaganda by MSM regardless of whether they are voting on a given day or not. Evidently, EC is relying on archaic laws and MC to decide their violations. As you have rightly pointed it is time for EC to get up to speed with the present times.

I agree with @counterview above.What we have done here in Visakhapatnam is that we youngsters have registered approximately 600 new voters, young and old, in our own Gujarati society, in our friends & business circle and our staff. This was done last December. We have personally checked online that every person we registered to vote had his name in the voters list.

Now this word of mouth has spread and we are sure of a voters turn out within our circle will be 1200.

See, the point is don't expect to be spoon-fed. This is India.It's all about educating yourself and others. Together we have to support each other. Relying totally on the Government and EC is foolish.

I can agree with you only partially. May be did this time cos you felt election this time was imp cos NAMO was fighting this election. I bet you wouldnt do that every election. And how on earth 60 lks... Yes 60 lakhs could be deleted. That's ridiculous. EC would be sitting pretty for 5 yrs (general elections speaking) .what's it's duty? If I voted last time, my name should be this time too. Simple. What happened in Maharashtra is a crime. Don't justify it.

Post TN Seshan, the integrity of Election Commissioners have come under heavy cloud. Remember MS Gill? Successor of Seshan, brought in to clip Seshan's wings, who disenfranchised Bal Thackrey and then few years later became Union Minister in UPA. Similarly Navin Chawla who was CEC in 2009, is a well known Congress sympathiser having been a classmate of Sanjay Gandhi and posted a Secy to LG, Delhi.He was indicted by Shah Comission, which was later overturned by Indira Gandhi. His trust also got money from MPLAD funds of Congress MPs. And we all remember how Congress emerged the single largest party in 2009, against all expectations and opinion polls.

What will they do with the money and patronage of Gandhi family when common man on the street will look them down. Now only CAG is left to be tarnished. Now what is the face of EC when even the Prelim enquiry said that media meeting of MODI was outside the prescribed boundary even though some violation may be there.. Besides corruption , Congress has given rise to one more Chaacteristic to our Countrymen-- How to be Shameless after doing anything.. Kejriwal is Iconic figure in this regard..

There will be a big job on to clean all of the institutions that Congress has compromised over the years. There should be no let-up in this exercise, even if the investigations and prosecutions take decades.

Elections should be conducted when there are no public holidays, weekends before or after elections. Due to which people tend to relax, take leave and go for vacation.Voter's list should be matched with multiple agency data like census, ration card, LPG/DL etc. so as to minimize the errors.

The first priority of the New Govt. should be to modernize the electoral process is such a way that it is divided into three parts Voting with South, and dividing North into a Two parts !!! So the election will be over in two days and the whole exercise should be within a Week!!!!!

There is no denying the fact that this Bharat of ours still has a majority of the population which is illiterate and go by Charisma. There, the blighters of a lookalike of our so-called leaders ‘dig-in’.

Ravi, it is time if we can go in for an English news channel. We need hard talks, cross fires and the sorts in originality.

That is the only way we can screw up the Congs and others. I am ready with my contribution of 10,000/-

Try getting more. You be the judge. And let people like me come forward at times. Can u do it?

That is the only answer to shut the wide open mouths of Gutters, Chidhambarams, Manis, Thiwaris and a whole lot of others. Ravi, do it man?

With this article you have once again proved that “media is the first line of defence for corrupt”. Otherwise, nothing explains media’s silence on EC's pathetic failure in conducting free and fair elections and robbing eligible people of their right to vote. I can safely assume, 99% of those voters getting knocked off the list are Hindus. Else, the same media would have gone to town about Modi disenfranchising minorities even before he is elected. Between media, minorties and parties like SP, NCP, Commies etc., they would have even written to US, UN, EU, IJC and begged them to intervene and conduct elections under their supervision. Because EC, Congress and Media know that whatever atrocities against Hindus, they will never take these issues beyond India’s soil. Ironically, Hindu’s patriotism is being used as a tactic against him to wrench away his rights one by one with this disenfranchisement being the latest.

As you have rightly pointed out, EC is just plain inefficient (either by design or intent) to run an election in a humungous 45 day timeline. It’s true conducting elections for the size and complexity of population is no joke. But it’s also equally true that EC has adequate numbers in its employment corresponding to our population to conduct elections in a shorter span of time. Especially, since that will result in FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS, the basic reason why EC exists. But no, it suits Congress and their chosen chaprasis like Sampath to continue with this inefficient system that helps them focus on non-issues like hate speech, and help media’s manipulation, indirect canvassing through opinion polls (e.g. ndtv’s opinion polls even while polls are underway).

Rightfully, BJP should file a case against EC for their numerous omissions and commissions in this election so that eligible people who were robbed of their basic right in democracy - RIGHT to VOTE, gets justice and also prevent future occurrences.

Well timed article Ravinar! The Tyranny of "national" media keeps the real issues out of focus and make people concentrate on silly issues many times...I did not see any of these channels discussing on the grave issue of missing of 6 million voter names...and EC got away with an eyewash apology...And Ravinar, thanks of putting things in perspective and highlighting the real issues...Hope that there well blossom a fresh breed of honest journalists and channels under the new NaMo govt who puts the nation first and always struggle to seek the truth and convey that to public...

From 1999 Elections have started getting delayed. UPA claims nation has grown well under its regime and if so why EC needs this much time to conduct elections when in 1999 it started with around 6 phase to now 9 phases.

Next time the elections are held, it should be completed in max two weeks. It's ridiculous to have it spread over a period of month and half. The standard of campaigning is bound to be lowered. One has to pity political parties. They have to get new ammunition every other day. So automatically the standard is lowered. I hope this is not repeated.

Sampath and Brahma were Power Secretaries between 2008 and 2009 when a large number of coal blocks were allotted by the Coal Ministry then headed by Manmohan Singh.

It is learnt that DoPT has claimed that since Sampath and Brahma are holding Constitutional posts, examining them by the CBI is out of question. However, no such reason has been cited for denying permission to the CBI to question all-powerful PMO official TKA Nair, said sources. http://www.dailypioneer.com/todays-newspaper/govt-foils-cbi-move--to-quiz-pms-adviser.html

Nice post as always. The reputation of EC has been constantly deteriorating throughout the elections this time. It seems they are sidetracked from their actual responsibility and that is to make sure that entire election process gets complicated fairly and peacefully. Some of my fellow readers have made really good comments about voter list debacle. Those who are educated or alert enough can make sure they are on the list, but still there are many people who are illiterate and living in areas such as distant villages where they have no way of checking their names on the voter list In advance. So, ultimately it's the EC's responsibility to make sure each and every eligible voter makes to the list. But then, the problem lies at the very root level. The way the data is collected about new voters and updation of existing voters' data is done is very very inefficient. As for the timespan of election, it should be of maximum one week. This decade will be known as the destruction of almost every democratic institution in India by the govt itself. Yes, Modi did break law, but so have others. And by singling out Modi, EC proved it acted on behalf of the Congress. Congress has filed more complaints to EC than any other party, thereby overwhelming EC with such nonsense to make sure EC fumbles in paying attention to the fair election process.

BTW Ravi has been indicating that most of the Indian Media are crooks... aka ...news peddlers ...Is this not what Kejriwal is saying?? Unfortunately AAP has bitten more than what it can chew...Governing Delhi would have lent credibility.

Law and order depends on making of laws and how you implement it. Now, first, congress (I don’t want to mention ‘allies’ again & again as for me they are all congress) has systematically destroyed all the major institutions which were enough to curb corruption and maintain law & order then looted whatever they can and also like a professional criminal created the escape route by distorting, damaging existing useful laws by unnecessary amendments and clauses. EC is responsible for creating the foundation of the whole system that governs our Nation. How congress can leave this Institution without polluting it with their filthy intentions.

(*)was voter-id card necessary, when as per EC instruction anyone can vote with any of the 13 IDs and even if someone declares himself/herself as the head of the family (with a valid ID) then his/her family members are allowed to cast their vote without any ID (anyone can guess the beneficiaries of such rule). I do not see any difference between the intentions behind ‘voter-id’ and ‘adhaar’.

Ravinar, this is fantastic! Would love to read more about the print media too. They are incredibly partisan. Look at today's TOI article "http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/lok-sabha-elections-2014/news/Rai-goes-silent-its-Kejriwal-vs-Modi-now/articleshow/34761618.cms" This is clearly written by either an AAP member/sympathizer/payee. Indian Express, Hindu are all exactly the same.

‘There is no denying that the task of conducting elections in India is a huge one.’ But at the same time there are great pool of resources of man power, money and security personnel to carry out this task and conduct the election fairly. Particularly for the first time election was staged in so many stages en extended for the longer period. Which means to provide security should not have been problem, and booth capturing and mass rigging could have been controlled. But looking to the background of EC chief Mr.Sampath the doubt which are raised that election is not conducted fairly is not unfounded. Missing of name of millions from voters list which smells of nothing short of racketeering, cannot be accepted as mere lapses when government funded huge amount on failed ‘Adhar Card’ scheme. Moot point is how EC should be made accountable? The direction for which can be obtained from the highest court of the land and fix the guilty.

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